1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video cassette changer-programmer system, and more particularly to a video cassette changer-programmer that provides a weekly program that may be varied on a daily basis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the advent of the Sony U-matic Type II Player/Recorder, generally referred to as video cassette players, has come a group of video cassette changer-programmer systems that provide entertainment to concentrated living groups, including residents of condominiums and apartments and guests at motels and hotels. The use of these systems also extends to the cable television industry to enable this industry to provide its customers full length movies. One company has a video cassette changer-programmer, the VJB-12, that plays through a set of 12 U-matic cassettes in sequence. After the system has played all twelve cassettes, it rewinds the cassettes. In the alternative, each cassette may be rewound after it has been played. There are provisions for varying the sequence of the cassette being played.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,768, entitled Videotape Cassette Automatic Loader-Unloader, issued to Edward L. Covington on May 11, 1976, teaches an automatic loader-unloader of cassettes to and from a videotape deck which operates in conjunction with the Sony U-matic videotape player. The automatic loader-unloader includes a device which tilts and supports the videotape with its top surface at a selected angle to the horizontal, and provides a shelf in front of the deck with the shelf co-planar with the top surface of the deck loading device means is provided by means of an arm mounted above and parallel to the deck surface with a device adapted to press against the back edge and top surface of the cassette when mounted on the shelf, so as to provide two components of force, one parallel to the plane of the cassette, causing it to move off the shelf and on to the elevator plate of the tape deck, and a second force perpendicular to the surface of of the cassette so that when the deck is positioned on the elevator, and extends the eject spring, the downward force will cause the elevator to move downwardly and into the recording position. To unload the deck there are devices which operate the eject lever on the tape deck, which lifts the elevator to move to its upper position, and the eject plate exerts a force on the cassette to move it forwardly, off the elevator plate from which it falls, by gravity, along the surface of the elevator and of the shelf, to be positioned on the shelf.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,758, entitled Tape Cartridge Changer with Selective Cartridge and Track Programming Controls, issued to Gerald Dee Pyles on Apr. 22, 1975, teaches a tape cartridge changer which includes an array of cartridge receptacles adapted to receive a plurality of tape cartridges to be automatically played, either selectively or sequentially. A portion of the changer playing mechanism is mounted on a movable platform which traverses a path of travel adjacent to the array of cartridge receptacles.
Mechanical switches are connected in a control circuit to control the operation of the changer. The mechanical switches are operable to provide two modes of operation for the cartridge changer. In the first mode of operation, the cartridge changer automatically plays the plurality of tape cartridges in the array of cartridge receptacles and thereafter totally de-energizes the changer. In the second mode of operation, the cartridge changer automatically repetitively replays the plurality of tape cartridges.
A series of controls are located adjacent to each of the cartridge receptacles of the array to permit control of the changer operation at each receptacle position. The contacts associated with the controls cooperate with contacts mounted to an assembly on the movable platform. The contacts on the movable platform sequentially engage the contacts associated with the controls at each of the cartridge receptacle positions to connect each of the controls in the changer control circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,328, entitled Automatic Tape Programming, issued to Ulyss S. Mitchell and Alva Robert Myers on Apr. 19, 1966, teaches a device which will play a tape from any selected cartridge in response to a signal received from a selector unit which includes a device for predetermining the sequence of the selections to be played during a particular program which in itself may be set up upon the selector unit.
The cable television industry makes use of the video cassette players in its automatic program origination systems. One such system has a set of six video cassette players for its standard four channel unit. The video cassette players are controlled by audio/video cassette switches with issue commands to the video cassette players. The audio/video cassette switches are controlled by a tape, on which there are recorded digital command words, by each other, by automatic timers, by special purpose command word generators, by remote data terminals and by computers. In operation the system has an automatic timer start the preview and the first reel of each movie at a pre-selected time each day. At the end of the programming the reels of the movie are rewound.
Both of the above-described programming systems are limited in their programming flexibility. The need is for a system that can not only play two or more movies simultaneously, but that can also play these movies in any sequence desired. The computer industry is presently far ahead of the video cassette player industry but reference to U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,195, entitled Automatic Tape Reel Mount, issued to Richard E. Sills and Gary L. Allison on Nov. 18, 1975, is useful in that this patent teaches an on-line automated tape library system.
Several patents which are more relevant in that they teach similar devices for magnetic tape cassettes and video cassettes include U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,385, U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,775, U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,828, U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,022, U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,879, U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,863, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,047.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,385, entitled Conveying Apparatus for a Magnetic Tape Cartridge Changer, issued to Leopold Petrus Johannes Vermeijlen Emmasingel and Friedrich Laa on Nov. 16, 1971, teaches a magnetic tape cartridge changer for playing a plurality of stacked tape cartridges in sequence. U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,828, entitled Cinematographic Apparatus for use with Cassetted for Motion Picture Film, issued to Rudolf Kremp and Fridolin Henning on Mar. 27, 1973, teaches a motion picture projector wherein the top wall of the housing supports a detachable upright duct for a stack of horizontal film-containing cassettes. The lowermost cassette of the stack dwells in a projection position in which the film can be automatically withdrawn from such cassette in order to be threaded through the projector and attached to the core of the take-up reel. An automatic rewinding unit rewinds the film and expels the cassete into a detechable collecting receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,022, entitled Projector for Automatically Threading, Rewinding, and Indexing a Plurality of Film Spools and a Magazine, issued to Elmer C. Henriksen on Oct. 19, 1971, teaches a magazine having a plurality of adjoining reel compartments that supplies film from successive reels in a film path for forward projection and receives film returned from the path during reverse projection and rewind. Once the film is projected, it is rewound upon the supply reel and the magazine is indexed to present a new film supply reel for projection. The films are shown sequentially. U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,775, entitled Film Reel Support Assembly for Projectors, issued to Arthur E. Nupnau on Apr. 3, 1973, teaches a support assembly adaptable for supporting varying sized reels of film at a projection station on a motion picture projector. The support assembly includes a gate member having a first position to permit projecting any one of a plurality of like-sized reels of film supported on the projector and having a second position to permit projecting a selected one of the varying sized reels of film. U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,879, entitled Cinematographic Cartridge Projector Apparatus, issued to John J. Bundschuh, Robert J. Roman and Kenneth W. Thompson on December 29, 1970, teaches a projection apparatus for use with cartridges containing rolls of film in which the cartridge may either be selectively or automatically moved in sequence into an operational position. U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,047, entitled Motion Picture Projector, issued to Jack W. Thomsen, Arthur E. Nupnau, Raymond W. H. Kim and Jaroslav Cherniavskyj on Sept. 11, 1973, teaches a shuttle that is manually adjustable transversely of a film path to enable engagement of its claw in sprocket performations of standard 8 mm films for intermittent movement thereof in opposite projection direction. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,862, entitled Cinematograph Projection Apparatus, issued to Peter Robbins and Leroy G. Osborn on Feb. 4, 1975, teaches a film pay-off and take-up accessory for a film projector. The accessory includes a first and a second pair of pay-off and take-up reels. This apparatus is similar to the automatic program origination system described above.